This dissertation presents five research essays evaluating the performance of managed funds in light of the investment strategy and manager characteristics exhibited by institutional investment companies. An analysis of investment performance with respect to a fund managers strategy provides important information in determining whether performance objectives have been achieved. There are a number of different types of investment strategies managed funds may adopt. However, the primary dichotomy is on the basis of whether the portfolio manager implements either an active or index approach. Active managers attempt to outperform the market through the use of price-sensitive information, whereas a passive manager's objective is to replicate the returns and risk of a target benchmark index. The evaluation of investment manager characteristics is also evaluated. This is motivated on the basis that asset management entities place significant emphasis on both the articulation and differentiation of their investment style relative to competitors, and selling the strengths of their portfolio management skills (in terms of past performance) as well identifying the key individuals comprising their investment team and their unique attributes. For active equity managers, the methods used in constructing portfolios and implementing the investment strategy include security selection, in terms of 'top-down' or 'bottom-up' strategies, value-biased, growth-biased or style-neutral strategies, and portfolios exhibiting market capitalisation biases (i.e. preferences to large or small-cap securities). In terms of active bond portfolio management, the most common strategies include duration management and yield curve positioning. Active managers' strategies are likely to extend beyond stock selection, in particular, where the fund manager adjusts the portfolio's composition in anticipation of favourably capitalising on future movements in the market. For index managers, replication of both the returns and risk of the underlying index may be achieved through either full-replication of constituent stocks comprising the index, or through non-replication techniques (stratified sampling and/or optimisation). Each essay provides a unique contribution to the literature with respect to the performance of active and index funds, as well as an analysis of funds that invest specifically in domestic equities, domestic fixed interest, and diversified funds that invest across the broad spectrum of asset classes. The origins of the performance evaluation literature are ascribed to Cowles' (1933) pioneering work, and the literature has given increasing attention to the topic. However the most fundamental issue considered in almost all previous studies of managed fund performance is the extent to which actively managed portfolios have earned superior risk-adjusted excess returns for investors. The literature has overwhelmingly documented (with a small number of exceptions) that active funds have been unable to earn superior returns, either before or after expenses (e.g. Jensen (1968), Elton et al. (1993), Malkiel (1995), Gruber (1996)). While the international evidence is supported by the few Australian managed fund studies available, Australian research remains surprisingly scarce. This is perplexing considering the sheer size of the investment industry in Australia (around $A717 billion as at 30 June 2001) and the importance placed on the sector with respect to successive Federal Governments' retirement income policies. The objectives of this dissertation therefore involve an analysis of managed fund performance with respect to differences in investment strategies (i.e. active and index), as well as providing an analysis of funds invested in equities, bonds and diversified asset classes (or multi-sector portfolios). The first essay evaluates the market timing and security selection capabilities of Australian pooled superannuation funds. These funds provide institutional investors with exposure to securities across many different asset classes, including domestic and international equities, domestic and international fixed interest, property and cash. Surprisingly, the specific analysis of multi-sector funds is scarce in the literature and limited to Brinson et al. (1986, 1991), Sinclair (1990), and Blake et al. (1999). This essay also evaluates performance for the three largest asset classes within diversified superannuation funds and their contribution to overall portfolio return. The importance of an accurately specified market portfolio proxy in the measurement of investment performance is demonstrated, where the essay employs performance benchmarks that account for the multi-sector investment decisions of active investment managers in a manner that is consistent with their unique investment strategy. This approach rectifies Sinclair's (1990) analysis resulting from benchmark misspecification. Consistent with the literature, the empirical results indicate that Australian pooled superannuation funds do not exhibit significantly positive security selection or market timing skill. Given the evidence in the literature surrounding the inability of active funds to deliver superior returns to investors, lower cost index funds have become increasingly popular as an alternative investment strategy. Despite the significant growth in index funds since 1976, when the first index mutual fund was launched in the U.S., research on their performance is sparse in the U.S. and non-existent in Australia. The second essay provides an original analysis of the Australian index fund market, with specific analysis applicable to institutional Australian equity index funds offered by fund managers. While indexing is theoretically straightforward, in practice there exist potential difficulties in exactly matching the return of the underlying index. Therefore the magnitude of tracking error is likely to be of concern to investors. This essay documents the existence of significant tracking error for Australian index funds, where the magnitude of the difference between index fund returns and index returns averages between 7.4 and 22.3 basis points per month for funds operating at least five years. However, there is little evidence of bias in tracking error, implying that these funds neither systematically outperform or underperform their benchmark on a before cost basis. Further analysis documents that the magnitude of tracking error is related to fund cash flows, market volatility, transaction costs and index replication strategies used by passive investment managers. The third essay presents evidence of the performance of U.S. mutual funds, where attention is given to both active and index mutual funds for which the applicable benchmark index is the S&P 500. This essay examines both the magnitude and variation of tracking error over time for S&P 500 index mutual funds. The essay documents seasonality in S&P 500 index mutual fund tracking error, where tracking error is significantly higher in the months of January and May, together with a seasonal trough in the quarters ending March-June-September-December. Statistical evidence indicates tracking error is both positively and significantly correlated with the dividend payments arising from constituent S&P 500 securities. In terms of a performance comparison between actively managed and index funds, active funds on average are found to significantly underperform passive benchmarks. On the other hand, S&P 500 index mutual funds earned higher risk-adjusted excess returns after expenses than large capitalisation-oriented active mutual funds in the period examined. These results suggest the S&P 500 is consistent with capital market efficiency, implying an absence of economic benefit accruing to the average investor utilising actively managed U.S. equity mutual funds. The fourth essay presented in the dissertation examines the performance of Australian investment management organisations with direct reference to their specific characteristics and strategies employed. Using a unique information source, performance is evaluated for actively managed institutional balanced funds (or diversified asset class funds), Australian share funds and Australian bond funds. Performance is evaluated with respect to the investment strategy adopted, the experience and qualifications held by investment professionals, and the tenure of the key investment professionals. This essay also evaluates the performance of senior sector heads to determine the skills of individuals driving the investment process, even though these individuals may migrate to competitor organisations. The essay finds evidence that a significant number of active Australian equity managers earned superior risk-adjusted returns in the period, however active managers perform in line with market indices for balanced funds and Australian bond funds. A number of manager characteristics are also found to predict risk-adjusted excess returns, systematic risk and investment expenses. Of particular note, performance of balanced funds is negatively related to the institution's age and the loyalty of non-senior investment staff. Performance is also found to be significantly higher for managers that predominantly operate their portfolios using a bottom-up, stock selection approach. Interestingly, the human capital of managers, measured as the years of tertiary education undertaken, does not explain risk-adjusted excess returns. Systematic risk is positively related to an institutions age and negatively related to both senior manager loyalty and the implementation of bottom-up portfolio management strategies. In terms of management expenses, fees are directly related to the Australian equities benchmark allocation, the years of tertiary education, the number of years service (loyalty) for non-senior investment professionals and the total years experience of senior money managers. This concluding essay also documents that changes in top management have significant performance effects. In the 12-month period after a change in fixed income director or chief investment officer, performance is significantly lower and significantly higher, respectively. There is no significant difference in performance where changes in top management occur for Australian equities. The years of service (loyalty) provided to asset management firms by equities directors is inversely related to risk-adjusted return. The fifth and final essay examines the investment performance of active Australian bond funds and the impact of investor fund flows on portfolio returns. This essay represents a significant and original analysis in terms of its contribution to the literature, given the absence of Australian bond fund performance analytics and also the limited attention provided in the U.S. Both security selection and market timing performance is evaluated using both unconditional models and conditional performance evaluation techniques, which account for public information and the time-variation in risk. Overall, the results of this essay are consistent with the U.S. and international mutual fund evidence, where performance is found to be consistent with an efficient market. While actively managed institutional funds perform broadly in line with the index before expenses, the paper documents significant underperformance for actively managed retail bond funds after fees. The study also documents that retail fund flows negatively impact on market timing coefficients when flow is not accounted for in unconditional models.

<p>The ongoing global recession has made the economy widely discussed in recent months. As individuals, who are part of, and affected by what is happening in the global economy, we found it interesting to investigate the current financial situation on a more individual and personal level. We intended to find out more about personal financial advising, how it is conducted and what the financial advisors suggest we do with our money today. Is it best to stick the money under the mattress or has the current financial situation brought on a perfect opportunity invest money in the financial markets?</p><p>We hope to find patterns on how financial advisors recommend that we save and invest our money today. Also, we want to investigate what these recommendations are based on and how these financial advisors work to present these advices. We intend to look for similarities within the branch in the advising process, as well as the outcome of the process in order to create guidelines for saving and investment.</p><p>We intended to answer these questions by conducting a qualitative study where we interviewed six financial advisors at three different financial institutions. We take on a constructionist ontological position assuming that reality is constructed by the perception of social actors. Furthermore, we have taken an interpretivistic epistemological stance that view knowledge based on interpretations, and try to understand the world from the research subjects' point of view.</p><p>We utilized a number of theories in order to support and build our study. These theories were used in order to help us construct and conduct our collection methods of primary data, and further used to aid us in analyzing the interview findings.</p><p>Analyzing the empirical results we learned that the basis in the financial advising process is fairly standardized within the branch. First, personal and financial information is gathered in order to assess the client's unique situation, followed by the creation of a risk profile, which is very important according to the respondents. Even though the study shows that there are different methods to collect this information and create these profiles, the patterns show that all institutions work around the same concept, that every client is an individual that needs to be assessed as unique. We also learned that the financial crisis have not had a significant impact on the financial advising itself, but rather in the attitudes of the clients. Furthermore, the increased level of documentation due to the new laws is the only evident change, with minor signs of an increased protection for both the advisor and the client. Finally, conclusions about saving and investment today were drawn by finding patterns and common denominators between the respondents advices for the individual profiles created for this study.</p>

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>e-Services, or customer service, over the Internet is becoming increasingly popular and well traveled, but it is also rapidly changing along with new needs and demands as well as new technology. Many companies are about to experience the change from just using the web as a static service tool to be able to use the web as an interactive medium and an online extension of their business. Simplexica has developed, and implemented, their own e-service where their customers have access to their personal pages where they receive news and publications. The main purpose, though, is to make their technical expertise available for their trusted partners and customers in order for them to design their own technical system and to place orders online. Simplexica’s experience from the e-service implementation has proven to be a success in some markets, within some areas and with some customers, but the e-service is still struggling to get utilized to it’s full potential and showing an return on investment.</p><p>The purpose and objective of this thesis report is to analyze and generally describe the e-service portal and the e-service business process used by Simplexica today in order to find areas and functions within e-service which Simplexica can use and apply to improve their existing e-service business process. This thesis report also aims to analyze and evaluate the return on investment of the e-service.</p><p>More specifically the thesis work strives to answer:</p><p> How could the e-service process in place at Simplexica today be described?</p><p> How to best globally utilize the full concept of e-service at Simplexica?</p><p> Where is the return on investment at Simplexica?</p><p>The theoretical framework includes e-services, customer relationship management, business process management and methods of identifying gains, which is combined with a hermeneutic scientific perspective, a deductive research approach and a qualitative method in order to identify and evaluate different ways of calculating a return on investment that would be useful to Simplexica.</p><p>There is no simple solution to the dilemma, but the author summarizes the findings and recommendations in a suggested action plan where changes within Simplexica’s current e-service concept and the financial benefits of the investment, are in focus by:</p><p> removing the barriers for using the e-service where a key element is to create a common understanding, internally and externally, for their current e-service and e-process.</p><p> measuring key indicators and to incorporate crucial customer data</p><p> analyzing the return on investment and estimating the effect and value of intangible benefits</p><p> establishing a model for determining a successful investment based on a variant of the 5-table</p><p> extending, upgrading and changing the current e-service by using new technology as, for instance, M2M and e-mail channeling, and to introduce a total customer service strategy throughout Simplexica.</p>

<p>This paper presents a study of which affect determining factors of foreign direct investment (FDI) has had in China’s eastern provinces. The eastern region is studies to shed more light on why these provinces has been able to attract more FDI than the central and western provinces. FDI theory gives an explanation to why business make direct investments on foreign markets and what factors that affect these decisions. Four of these factors; wage, education level, GDP per capita and level of infrastructure are studied using data from China Statistical Yearbooks. Data is studied by using an index created by the author. The results indicate that education level is of importance when wage levels increase in order to keep attracting FDI. Also, a positive relationship between infrastructure and FDI inflow is found.</p>

The aim of this Thesis is to study the relationship of investment decision with technological progress and the adoption of new technologies. In more specific, the main focus is given to some policy experiment. This dissertation is divided in 4 chapters, including the introduction and the review of the literature: · The Second Chapter deals with the impact of productive public capital on the decision to invest, taking into account irreversibility and uncertainty. Many authors have stressed the importance of the Government as ultimate risk manager. On the one hand, there is an extensive literature on how public expenditure affects growth. The purpose of the chapter is to take another perspective: to study if the productive public capital can reduce the risk faced by the private sector, in the presence of irreversibility and uncertainty. Thereby, we want to emphasize the stabilizing role for the public capital. · The Third Chapter: introduces a theoretical link between embodied technological progress, the irreversibility and uncertainty literature. In this model, Replacement is postponed in the presence irreversibility and uncertainty. The age of the oldest machine evolves stochastically. Firms can invest even if they are not using all the units, getting rid from the perfect procycle models in the irreversible literature. Furthermore, we reproduce the empirical evidence at firm level: investment is lumpy and infrequent. · The Fourth Chapter studies the impact of public policies aiming at the reduction of the adoption cost of new technologies. We assume an economy that presents AK production function with two distinct features: the adoption of new technologies is costly and embodied in new machines, and there is diffusion and learning process. Studying how technological progress, uncertainty and irreversibility affect the decision to undertake new projects and the acquisition of new equipments by private sector, we expect that this Thesis can contribute not only with academic debate but also with the efficiency of public policies.

Immediately following public offerings, underwriters often repurchase shares of poorly performing IPOs in an apparent attempt to stabilize the price. Using proprietary Nasdaq data for a large sample of IPOs, I study the price effects and cross-sectional determinants of price support. Some of the key findings are: (1) Price stabilization is substantial, inducing significant price rigidity at and below the offer price. Stabilization appears, at least in the short run, to raise the equilibrium stock price. (2) Many studies suggest that stabilization helps to mitigate information asymmetry problems in the IPO market. I find no evidence that stocks with larger ex-ante information asymmetries are stabilized more strongly. (3) The characteristics of the lead underwriter emerge as the strongest determinants of price support. Larger and more reputable investment banks stabilize more, perhaps to protect their reputations with investors. But there are substantial differences in price support even among the largest underwriters (after controlling for IPO characteristics and underwriter size). (4) Investment banks with retail brokerage operations stabilize much more than other large investment banks. This puzzling result seems inconsistent with the common view that stabilization benefits primarily institutional investors, and I outline and examine several alternative explanation

Previous research finds some evidence that analysts affiliated with equity underwriters issue more optimistic earnings growth forecasts and optimistic recommendations of client stock than unaffiliated analysts. Unfortunately, these studies are unable to discriminate between three competing hypotheses for the apparent optimism. Under the bribery hypothesis, underwriting clients, with the promise of underwriting fees, coax analysts to compromise their objectivity. The execution-related conflict of hypothesis postulates that the investment banks employing analysts who are more bullish on a particular stock are better able to execute the deal, and so the banks pressure their analysts to be bullish in order to enhance their execution ability. Finally, the selection bias hypothesis postulates that analysts are objective, but because of the enhanced execution ability, banks with more optimistic analysts are more likely to get selected as underwriters. We test these hypotheses in a previously unexplored setting, namely M&A activities. Depending on whether an analyst is affiliated with the target or the acquirer and whether the analyst report is about the target or the acquirer, the hypotheses predict analyst optimism in some cases and pessimism in other. Therefore, examining the issue of analyst bias in the M&A context allows us to shed some light on alternative explanations for the impact of analyst affiliation on the properties of analyst forecasts and recommendations.

We consider how the optimal decision can be made if the optimality criterion of maximizing profit changes to that of maximizing return on investment for the general uncapacitated facility location problem. We show that the inherent structure of the proposed model can be exploited to make a significant computational reduction.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

This study proposes two methods, (1) a probabilistic method based on historical oil prices and (2) a method based on Gaussian simulation, to model future prices of oil. With these methods to model future oil prices, we can calculate the ranges of uncertainty in traditional probability indicators based on cash flow analysis, such as net present values, net present value to investment ratio and internal rate of return. We found that conventional methods used to quantify uncertainty which use high, low and base prices produce uncertainty ranges far narrower than those observed historically. These methods fail because they do not capture the "shocks" in oil prices that arise from geopolitical events or supply-demand imbalances. Quantifying uncertainty is becoming increasingly important in the petroleum industry as many current investment opportunities in reservoir development require large investments, many in harsh exploration environments, with intensive technology requirements. Insight into the range of uncertainty, particularly for downside, may influence our investment decision in these difficult areas.